1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of apparatuses for storing photographs in a manner in which the photographs may be viewed with relative ease, the apparatuses being of the type commonly referred to as photo albums.
2. Prior Art
Apparatuses and devices for the storage and display of photographs have taken many forms. One form often referred to as a photo album comprises rigid panels foldable over one another, at least one of the panels having a plurality of flat transparent plastic pockets for holding the photographs. The pockets may display a photograph on each side. Typically, the pockets are attached in a parallel fashion to the rigid panel with a small spacing between adjacent pockets so that the pockets substantially overlap one another when they are laid flat in the album. Thus, when the album is opened, only a photograph contained in the top pocket will be visible to the viewer. To view the other photographs, the viewer flips the pockets. While such a device permits a fairly compact storage of photographs which may be used without much difficulty, problems with respect to the identification of the individual photographs and, relatedly, with the ready access of a particular desired photograph persist.
One approach to identifying the photographs in such a photo album is to print or write the identification of the particular photograph on the back of the photograph. However, such writing on the back of photographs has been known to result in damage or destruction to the photograph. In addition, such an approach precludes the placing of a photograph on each side of the transparent plastic pocket as then the writing will be blocked.
Other approaches have been to glue small pieces of paper having the required information to the face of the pocket or to slip such a piece of paper within the pocket over the photograph. Both of these approaches are unsatisfactory in that such pieces of paper inevitably block part of the photograph.
Another approach that has been used in order to provide identification for the photographs displayed in such an album is to attach an index to the rigid backing member below the bottommost plastic pocket. This index may comprise a series of numbers corresponding to the pockets with spaces adjacent thereto for writing or printing information pertinent to the displayed photos. Unfortunately, after selecting a desired photograph from such an index, a viewer must still search for the desired photograph as the pockets containing the photographs are not numbered.